Modellistica Idraulico-Matematica per la definizione di strategie di mitigazione del rischio alluvionale

La Comunità Europea, alla luce dei recenti eventi alluvionali occorsi nei Paesi Membri ed al progressivo aumento dei danni economici da essi provocati, ha recentemente emanato una direttiva (Direttiva Europea 2007/60/CE, Flood Directive) per la valutazione e la predisposizione di piani di gestione del rischio idraulico alluvionale. Con riferimento a tale contesto l’attività di ricerca condotta si è concentrata sulla valutazione delle potenzialità offerte dalla modellistica numerico-idraulica mono e bidimensionale quale strumento per l’attuazione della Direttiva 2007/60. Le attività sono state affrontate ponendo particolare attenzione alla valutazione dei termini di incertezza che caratterizzano l’applicazione dei modelli numerico-idraulici, esaminando i possibili effetti di tale incertezza sulla mappatura della pericolosità idraulica. In particolare, lo studio si concentra su diversi tratti fluviali del corso medio inferiore del Fiume Po e si articola in tre parti: 1) analisi dell’incertezza connessa alla definizione delle scale di deflusso in una generica sezione fluviale e valutazione dei suoi effetti sulla calibrazione dei modelli numerici quasi-bidimensionali (quasi-2D); 2) definizione di mappe probabilistiche di allagamento per tratti fluviali arginati in presenza di tre sorgenti di incertezza: incertezza nelle condizioni al contorno di monte, nelle condizioni di valle e nell’identificazione delle eventuali brecce arginali; 3) valutazione dell’applicabilità di un modello quasi-2D per la definizione, a grande scala spaziale, di strategie alternative al tradizionale rialzo dei manufatti arginali per la mitigazione del rischio alluvionale associato a eventi di piena catastrofici. Le analisi condotte, oltre ad aver definito e valutato le potenzialità di metodologie e modelli idraulici a diversa complessità, hanno evidenziato l’entità e l’impatto dei più importanti elementi d’incertezza, sottolineando come la corretta mappatura della pericolosità idraulica debba sempre essere accompagnata da una valutazione della sua incertezza.

L'utililizzo delle ICT nel processo penale

Il progetto di ricerca si situa nell’ambito dell’informatica giudiziaria settore che studia i sistemi informativi implementati negli uffici giudiziari allo scopo di migliorare l’efficienza del servizio, fornire una leva per la riduzione dei lunghi tempi processuali, al fine ultimo di garantire al meglio i diritti riconosciuti ai cittadini e accrescere la competitività del Paese. Oggetto di studio specifico del progetto di ricerca è l’utilizzo delle ICT nel processo penale. Si tratta di una realtà meno studiata rispetto al processo civile, eppure la crisi di efficienza del processo non è meno sentita in tale area: l’arretrato da smaltire al 30 giugno del 2011 è stato quantificato in 3,4 milioni di processi penali, e il tempo medio di definizione degli stessi è di quattro anni e nove mesi. Guardare al processo penale con gli occhi della progettazione dei sistemi informativi è vedere un fluire ininterrotto di informazioni che include realtà collocate a monte e a valle del processo stesso: dalla trasmissione della notizia di reato alla esecuzione della pena. In questa prospettiva diventa evidente l’importanza di una corretta gestione delle informazioni: la quantità, l’accuratezza, la rapidità di accesso alle stesse sono fattori così cruciali per il processo penale che l’efficienza del sistema informativo e la qualità della giustizia erogata sono fortemente interrelate. Il progetto di ricerca è orientato a individuare quali siano le condizioni in cui l’efficienza può essere effettivamente raggiunta e, soprattutto, a verificare quali siano le scelte tecnologiche che possono preservare, o anche potenziare, i principi e le garanzie del processo penale. Nel processo penale, infatti, sono coinvolti diritti fondamentali dell’individuo quali la libertà personale, la dignità, la riservatezza, diritti fondamentali che vengono tutelati attraverso un ampia gamma di diritti processuali quali la presunzione di innocenza, il diritto di difesa, il diritto al contraddittorio, la finalità di rieducazione della pena.

Studio del ruolo della Protein chinasi B/Akt nella migrazione di Cellule Staminali Mesenchimali umane

Le cellule staminali/stromali mesenchimali umane (hMSC) sono attualmente applicate in diversi studi clinici e la loro efficacia è spesso legata alla loro capacità di raggiungere il sito d’interesse. Poco si sa sul loro comportamento migratorio e i meccanismi che ne sono alla base. Perciò, questo studio è stato progettato per comprendere il comportamento migratorio delle hMSC e il coinvolgimento di Akt, nota anche come proteina chinasi B. L’espressione e la fosforilazione della proteinchinasi Akt è stata studiata mediante Western blotting. Oltre al time-lapse in vivo imaging, il movimento cellulare è stato monitorato sia mediante saggi tridimensionali, con l’uso di transwell, che mediante saggi bidimensionali, attraverso la tecnica del wound healing. Le prove effettuate hanno rivelato che le hMSC hanno una buona capacità migratoria. E’ stato osservato che la proteinchinasi B/Akt ha elevati livelli basali di fosforilazione in queste cellule. Inoltre, la caratterizzazione delle principali proteine di regolazione ed effettrici, a monte e a valle di Akt, ha permesso di concludere che la cascata di reazioni della via di segnale anche nelle hMSC segue un andamento canonico. Specifici inibitori farmacologici sono stati utilizzati per determinare il potenziale meccanismo coinvolto nella migrazione cellulare e nell'invasione. L’inibizione della via PI3K/Akt determina una significativa riduzione della migrazione. L’utilizzo di inibitori farmacologici specifici per le singole isoforme di Akt ha permesso di discriminare il ruolo diverso di Akt1 e Akt2 nella migrazione delle hMSC. E’ stato infatti dimostrato che l'inattivazione di Akt2, ma non quella di Akt1, diminuisce significativamente la migrazione cellulare. Nel complesso i risultati ottenuti indicano che l'attivazione di Akt2 svolge un ruolo critico nella migrazione della hMSC; ulteriori studi sono necessari per approfondire la comprensione del fenomeno. La dimostrazione che l’isoforma Akt2 è necessaria per la chemiotassi diretta delle hMSC, rende questa chinasi un potenziale bersaglio farmacologico per modulare la loro migrazione.

Export Supply Chain Organization and Food Safety and Quality Standards: a case study of the Moroccan Fruit and Vegetable Sector

Agri-food supply chains extend beyond national boundaries, partially facilitated by a policy environment that encourages more liberal international trade. Rising concentration within the downstream sector has driven a shift towards “buyer-driven” global value chains (GVCs) extending internationally with global sourcing and the emergence of multinational key economic players that compete with increase emphasis on product quality attributes. Agri-food systems are thus increasingly governed by a range of inter-related public and private standards, both of which are becoming a priori mandatory, especially in supply chains for high-value and quality-differentiated agri-food products and tend to strongly affect upstream agricultural practices, firms’ internal organization and strategic behaviour and to shape the food chain organization. Notably, increasing attention has been given to the impact of SPS measures on agri-food trade and notably on developing countries’ export performance. Food and agricultural trade is the vital link in the mutual dependency of the global trade system and developing countries. Hence, developing countries derive a substantial portion of their income from food and agricultural trade. In Morocco, fruit and vegetable (especially fresh) are the primary agricultural export. Because of the labor intensity, this sector (especially citrus and tomato) is particularly important in terms of income and employment generation, especially for the female laborers hired in the farms and packing houses. Hence, the emergence of agricultural and agrifood product safety issues and the subsequent tightening of market requirements have challenged mutual gains due to the lack of technical and financial capacities of most developing countries.

Innovation and economic performance of the firms in the service sector: relevant issues and open problems

This thesis is a collection of essays related to the topic of innovation in the service sector. The choice of this structure is functional to the purpose of single out some of the relevant issues and try to tackle them, revising first the state of the literature and then proposing a way forward. Three relevant issues has been therefore selected: (i) the definition of innovation in the service sector and the connected question of measurement of innovation; (ii) the issue of productivity in services; (iii) the classification of innovative firms in the service sector. Facing the first issue, chapter II shows how the initial width of the original Schumpeterian definition of innovation has been narrowed and then passed to the service sector form the manufacturing one in a reduce technological form. Chapter III tackle the issue of productivity in services, discussing the difficulties for measuring productivity in a context where the output is often immaterial. We reconstruct the dispute on the Baumol’s cost disease argument and propose two different ways to go forward in the research on productivity in services: redefining the output along the line of a characteristic approach; and redefining the inputs, particularly analysing which kind of input it’s worth saving. Chapter IV derives an integrated taxonomy of innovative service and manufacturing firms, using data coming from the 2008 CIS survey for Italy. This taxonomy is based on the enlarged definition of “innovative firm” deriving from the Schumpeterian definition of innovation and classify firms using a cluster analysis techniques. The result is the emergence of a four cluster solution, where firms are differentiated by the breadth of the innovation activities in which they are involved. Chapter 5 reports some of the main conclusions of each singular previous chapter and the points worth of further research in the future.

Continuity and Change in New Products

This doctoral dissertation is triggered by an emergent problem: how can firms reinvent themselves? Continuity- and change-oriented decisions fundamentally shape overtime the activities and potential revenues of organizations and other adaptive systems, but both types of actions draw upon limited resources and rely on different organizational routines and capabilities. Most organizations appear to have difficulties in making tradeoffs, so that it is easier to overinvest in one of them than to successfully achieve a mixture of both. Nevertheless, theory and empirical evidence suggest that too little of either may reduce performance, indicating a need to learn more about how organizations reconcile these tensions. In the first paper, I moved from the consideration that rapid changes in competitive environments increasingly require firms to be “ambidextrous” implementing organizational mechanisms and structures that allow continuity- and change-oriented activities to be engaged at the same time. More specifically, I show that continuity- and change-related decisions can’t be confined either inside or outside the firm, but span overtime across distinct decision domains located within and beyond the organizational boundaries. Reconciling static and dynamic perspectives of ambidexterity, I conceptualize a firm’s strategy as a bundle of decisions about product attributes and components of the production team, proposing a multidimensional and dynamic model of structural ambidexterity that explains why and how firms could manage conflicting pressures for continuity and change in the context of new products. In the second study I note how rigorous systematic evidence documenting the success of ambidextrous organizations is lacking, and there has been very little investigation of how firms deal with continuity and change in new products. How to manage the transition form a successful product to another? What to change and what to keep? Incumbents that deal with series of products over time need to update their offerings in order to have the most relevant attributes to prospect clients without disappoint the current customer base. They need to both match and anticipate consumers’ preferences, blending something old with something new to satisfy the current demand and enlarge the herd by appealing to newer audiences. This paper contributes to strategic renewal and ambidexterity-related research with the first empirically assessment of a positive consumer response to ambidexterity in new products. Also, this study provides a practical method to monitor overtime the degree to which a brand or a firm is continuity- or change- oriented and evaluate different strategy profiles across two decision domains that play a pivotal role in new products: product attributes and components of the production team.

Local home bias: Theory and new empirical evidence from Italy

This thesis examines the literature on local home bias, i.e. investor preference towards geographically nearby stocks, and investigates the role of firm’s visibility, profitability, and opacity in explaining such behavior. While firm’s visibility is expected to proxy for the behavioral root originating such a preference, firm’s profitability and opacity are expected to capture the informational one. I find that less visible, and more profitable and opaque firms, conditionally to the demand, benefit from being headquartered in regions characterized by a scarcity of listed firms (local supply of stocks). Specifically, research estimates suggest that firms headquartered in regions with a poor supply of stocks would be worth i) 11 percent more if non-visible, non-profitable and non-opaque; ii) 16 percent more if profitable; and iii) 28 percent more if both profitable and opaque. Overall, as these features are able to explain most, albeit not all, of the local home bias effect, I reasonably argue and then assess that most of the preference for local is determined by a successful attempt to exploit local information advantage (60 percent), while the rest is determined by a mere (irrational) feeling of familiarity with the local firm (40 percent). Several and significant methodological, theoretical, and practical implications come out.

Strategic decision making in international firms: effect of top management team internationalization on international strategic decision process

In this research project, I have integrated two research streams on international strategic decisions making in international firms: upper echelons or top management teams (TMT) internationalization research and international strategic decision making process research. Both research streams in international business literature have evolved independently, but there is a potential in combining these two streams of research. The first empirical paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision making process: a decision level analysis of rationality, speed, and performance” explores the influence of TMT internationalization on strategic decision rationality and speed and, subsequently, their effect on international strategic decision effectiveness (performance). The results show that the internationalization of TMT is positively related to decision effectiveness and this relationship is mediated by decision rationality while the hypotheses regarding the association between TMT internationalization and decision speed, and the mediating effect of speed were not supported. The second paper “TMT internationalization and international strategic decision rationality: the mediating role of international information” of my thesis is a simple but logical extension of first paper. The first paper showed that TMT Internationalization has a significant positive effect on international strategic decision rationality. The second paper explicitly showed that TMT internationalization affect on international strategic decision rationality comes from two sources: international experience (personal international knowledge and information) and international information collected from managerial international contacts. For this research project, I have collected data from international software firms in Pakistan. My research contributes to the literature on upper echelons theory and strategic decision making in context of international business and international firms by explicitly examining the link between TMT internationalization and characteristics of strategic decisions making process (i.e. rationality and speed) in international firms and their possible mediating effect on performance.

Interazioni tra Glicoproteine che mediano la penetrazione del Virus Herpes Simplex nella cellula e disegno razionale di Peptidi Inibitori

Herpes simplex virus entry into cells requires a multipartite fusion apparatus made of gD, gB and heterodimer gH/gL. gD serves as receptor-binding glycoprotein and trigger of fusion; its ectodomain is organized in a N-terminal domain carrying the receptor-binding sites, and a C-terminal domain carrying the profusion domain, required for fusion but not receptor-binding. gB and gH/gL execute fusion. To understand how the four glycoproteins cross-talk to each other we searched for biochemical defined complexes in infected and transfected cells, and in virions. We report that gD formed complexes with gB in absence of gH/gL, and with gH/gL in absence of gB. Complexes with similar composition were formed in infected and transfected cells. They were also present in virions prior to entry, and did not increase at virus fusion with cell. A panel of gD mutants enabled the preliminary location of part of the binding site in gD to gB to the aa 240-260 portion and downstream, with T306P307 as critical residues, and of the binding site to gH/gL at aa 260-310 portion, with P291P292 as critical residues. The results indicate that gD carries composite independent binding sites for gB and gH/gL, both of which partly located in the profusion domain. The second part of the project dealt with rational design of peptides inhibiting virus entry has been performed. Considering gB and gD, the crystal structure is known, so we designed peptides that dock in the structure or prevent the adoption of the final conformation of target molecule. Considering the other glycoproteins, of which the structure is not known, peptide libraries were analyzed. Among several peptides, some were identified as active, designed on glycoprotein B. Two of them were further analyzed. We identified peptide residues fundamental for the inhibiting activity, suggesting a possible mechanism of action. Furthermore, changing the flexibility of peptides, an increased activity was observed,with an EC50 under 10μM. New approaches will try to demonstrate the direct interaction between these peptides and the target glycoprotein B.

Il conflitto fra trasparenza sui mercati finanziari ed esigenza di riservatezza della società

The thesis main topic is the conflict between disclosure in financial markets and the need for confidentiality of the firm. After a recognition of the major dynamics of information production and dissemination in the stock market, the analysis moves to the interactions between the information that a firm is tipically interested in keeping confidential, such as trade secrets or the data usually covered by patent protection, and the countervailing demand for disclosure arising from finacial markets. The analysis demonstrates that despite the seeming divergence between informational contents tipically disclosed to investors and information usually covered by intellectual property protection, the overlapping areas are nonetheless wide and the conflict between transparency in financial markets and the firm’s need for confidentiality arises frequently and sistematically. Indeed, the company’s disclosure policy is based on a continuous trade-off between the costs and the benefits related to the public dissemination of information. Such costs are mainly represented by the competitive harm caused by competitors’ access to sensitive data, while the benefits mainly refer to the lower cost of capital that the firm obtains as a consequence of more disclosure. Secrecy shields the value of costly produced information against third parties’ free riding and constitutes therefore a means to protect the firm’s incentives toward the production of new information and especially toward technological and business innovation. Excessively demanding standards of transparency in financial markets might hinder such set of incentives and thus jeopardize the dynamics of innovation production. Within Italian securities regulation, there are two sets of rules mostly relevant with respect to such an issue: the first one is the rule that mandates issuers to promptly disclose all price-sensitive information to the market on an ongoing basis; the second one is the duty to disclose in the prospectus all the information “necessary to enable investors to make an informed assessment” of the issuers’ financial and economic perspectives. Both rules impose high disclosure standards and have potentially unlimited scope. Yet, they have safe harbours aimed at protecting the issuer need for confidentiality. Despite the structural incompatibility between public dissemination of information and the firm’s need to keep certain data confidential, there are certain ways to convey information to the market while preserving at the same time the firm’s need for confidentality. Such means are insider trading and selective disclosure: both are based on mechanics whereby the process of price reaction to the new information takes place without any corresponding activity of public release of data. Therefore, they offer a solution to the conflict between disclosure and the need for confidentiality that enhances market efficiency and preserves at the same time the private set of incentives toward innovation.

Fluidodinamica biomedica computazionale del flusso sanguigno in presenza di affezioni strumentali e/o patologiche

La tesi di Dottorato studia il flusso sanguigno tramite un codice agli elementi finiti (COMSOL Multiphysics). Nell’arteria è presente un catetere Doppler (in posizione concentrica o decentrata rispetto all’asse di simmetria) o di stenosi di varia forma ed estensione. Le arterie sono solidi cilindrici rigidi, elastici o iperelastici. Le arterie hanno diametri di 6 mm, 5 mm, 4 mm e 2 mm. Il flusso ematico è in regime laminare stazionario e transitorio, ed il sangue è un fluido non-Newtoniano di Casson, modificato secondo la formulazione di Gonzales & Moraga. Le analisi numeriche sono realizzate in domini tridimensionali e bidimensionali, in quest’ultimo caso analizzando l’interazione fluido-strutturale. Nei casi tridimensionali, le arterie (simulazioni fluidodinamiche) sono infinitamente rigide: ricavato il campo di pressione si procede quindi all’analisi strutturale, per determinare le variazioni di sezione e la permanenza del disturbo sul flusso. La portata sanguigna è determinata nei casi tridimensionali con catetere individuando tre valori (massimo, minimo e medio); mentre per i casi 2D e tridimensionali con arterie stenotiche la legge di pressione riproduce l’impulso ematico. La mesh è triangolare (2D) o tetraedrica (3D), infittita alla parete ed a valle dell’ostacolo, per catturare le ricircolazioni. Alla tesi sono allegate due appendici, che studiano con codici CFD la trasmissione del calore in microcanali e l’ evaporazione di gocce d’acqua in sistemi non confinati. La fluidodinamica nei microcanali è analoga all’emodinamica nei capillari. Il metodo Euleriano-Lagrangiano (simulazioni dell’evaporazione) schematizza la natura mista del sangue. La parte inerente ai microcanali analizza il transitorio a seguito dell’applicazione di un flusso termico variabile nel tempo, variando velocità in ingresso e dimensioni del microcanale. L’indagine sull’evaporazione di gocce è un’analisi parametrica in 3D, che esamina il peso del singolo parametro (temperatura esterna, diametro iniziale, umidità relativa, velocità iniziale, coefficiente di diffusione) per individuare quello che influenza maggiormente il fenomeno.

Capitale sociale e sistema del valore: Il caso del pesce azzurro in Puglia

The aim of my project is to find operational strategies for increasing the commercial exploitation of fish in Apulia region and to acquire a thorough knowledge of several important aspects of this system order to propose concrete, suitable and appropriate development tools. The plan is to analyze the impact that the socio-economic context has on blue fish systems of fishing and marketing in the various maritime regions. The sector of fishery is typified by a settled downward trend due to both communitarian policies driving towards a reduction of the fishery effort and to reduction of fishing resources. In the same time in Italy a increasing of costs (expecially fuel) and a reduction of market prices, because of the increasing of imports, are observed. Although a big part of Italian fishing fleet is to be referred to Apulia region, this dynamics are worsen, here, also because of market inefficiency and lack of integration and cooperation among fishermen. In this first part of my work I have investigated two areas that are relevant for regional fishery. On a first step I have evaluated fish amount for each kind of dealer working in each one of the two areas than, according to Porter's value chain analysis theory. Than i have applied the approach of value system to evaluate the value chains of the firm's supplier, the firm of fishery itself, and the firms distribution channels. Distribution of value has been resulted different but very unfavorable to fisherman in both investigated areas. The second step of my study has been the evaluation of the social capital value in both areas, defining the networks of fishery consistence and number of their mutual relationship. Results lay stress on a relation to an higher social capital value and a distribution of value system more profitable for fishermen.

Gli obbligazionisti subordinati e la risoluzione bancaria nel contesto italiano

Il lavoro affronta le problematiche emerse per gli obbligazionisti subordinati a seguito dall'applicazione nel contesto italiano della nuova disciplina in materia di gestione delle crisi bancarie. Nella prima parte del lavoro sono stati analizzati gli orientamenti della Commissione europea in merito ai criteri adottati per valutare la compatibilità dell’intervento pubblico nel settore bancario e la loro evoluzione; sono inoltre illustrati i nuovi strumenti introdotti per gestire le crisi degli istituti creditizi operanti sul mercato unico. Nella seconda parte del lavoro, lo studio si è concentrato sull’analisi dello strumento obbligazionario e, in particolar modo, delle obbligazioni bancarie subordinate, in quanto, in caso di crisi dell’istituto di credito emittente, i sottoscrittori di questo strumento saranno – verosimilmente – la prima categoria di creditori chiamata a sopportare i costi della ristrutturazione. L’ultima parte del lavoro è dedicata all’esame del grado e di tutela offerto dall’ordinamento italiano ai creditori coinvolti nei dissesti di alcune banche italiane. Oltre alle decisioni adottate dalla magistratura italiana in merito, l’analisi ha riguardato anche le misure di indennizzo adottate dal legislatore a tutela dei risparmiatori danneggiati dalla crisi degli istituti in cui investirono.